Ɛpsilon

To J. W. Lubbock   [December 1848–9]1

Wednesday

Dear Sir John.

I am much obliged for your note & kind permission to use the schoolroom.—2 I have appointed Mr. Nash3 to come next Wednesday.—

You say in your note you have sent me a drawing; I merely mention this in case of any accident to it, for I have received none.

Will you be so kind as to tell your son (in case my wife does not see Lady Lubbock, when she leaves this note) that I am anxious to hear about the microscope4 & if he would like half an hour’s talk, I hope & trust I shd. be able to see him tomorrow (Thursday) at 2 oclock or Friday at about same hour.— I was very sorry that he shd. have had the trouble of calling twice, but of late I have really been able to see nobody.—

I am much obliged for your kind invitation to meet Mr. Adams5 on Sunday, but as my man told you, I was very unwell that day.

Yours sincerely | C. Darwin To | Sir J. W. Lubbock Bart

Thank you, also, for your Paper on Meteors.—6

1
The date range is based on this letter having been written on the stationery with a broad mourning border which CD used for about a year following the death of his father, and on Lubbock’s papers on meteors (see n. 6, below).
2
Lubbock owned the schoolroom and rented it to the Down School Committee. CD and Emma occasionally requested use of the schoolroom for various community meetings (Moore 1985, p. 471).
3
Possibly John Nash, shoemaker of Farnborough, two miles from Down.
5
Probably John Couch Adams, the astronomer and mathematician.
6
Lubbock 1848–9.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

3.4 (Thursday)] interl
5.1 sincerely] ‘s’ over illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1212,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1212